Wireless local area networks (WLANs) implemented using the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards are widely used for enabling wireless communication between wireless devices in home and office environments and for providing wireless devices with an access to the Internet without connecting wires. The IEEE 802.11 is a set of wireless computer networking standards (also referred to as Wi-Fi standards) for implementing Ethernet-based WLAN computer communication in specified frequency bands, such as the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands. The IEEE 802.11 standards define rules for configuring an Ethernet-based network as well as the connectivity and protocols of constituent network equipment and wireless devices in the Ethernet-based network. By adhering to the IEEE 802.11 standards, the network equipment and the wireless devices can communicate efficiently.
In general, a WLAN include a plurality of wireless devices, also referred to as wireless stations or wireless clients. The wireless stations may be mobile devices, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a laptop computer. In other cases, the wireless stations may be secondary devices such as a printer or a desktop computer. The wireless stations can communicate directly with each other on a wireless channel in a so-called “ad-hoc” network. Alternately, the wireless stations may communicate through a base station, also referred to as an access point (AP) in a so-called “infrastructure-based” network.
Currently, WLANs implementing the IEEE 802.11 standards operate in 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz frequency bands. The 2.4 GHz frequency band extends from 2.4 GHz to 2.483 GHz, and the 5 GHz frequency band extends from 5.15 GHz to 5.825 GHz. Recently, the United States and other countries consider using a 6 GHz frequency band (e.g., 5.925-6.425 GHz) as an unlicensed frequency spectrum to provide an additional frequency spectrum to the current 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz frequency bands to meet the ever increasing demands of (Wi-Fi) Internet traffic. Since the 6 GHz frequency band is adjacent to the 5 GHz frequency band (one of the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) frequency bands) that is heavily used by 802.11 wireless networks, the 6 GHz frequency band can be advantageously applied to enhance the Wi-Fi performance of WLANs. The IEEE 802.11ax standard is being developed as the specification for the next generation of WLANs, which includes operations in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands. The IEEE 802.11ax is designed to enhance efficiency of Wi-Fi traffic for dense scenarios with modest improvement over a peak data rate.